


Super, Not a Hero

by e_cat



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen, I've gotten so bad at writing one-shots that feel done, and you know... word flow also may be subpar, because why not? I needed an idea, hence the gen category, super-quick work so characterization and whatnot is potentially subpar, this is so much less shippy than I originally intended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 05:06:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15901476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_cat/pseuds/e_cat
Summary: Adam has superpowers, but he doesn't plan to do anything with them. At least, not until Ronan comes along.





	Super, Not a Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [klainederful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/klainederful/gifts).



> Hey! It's a belated birthday present! Surprise! <3

Adam Parrish did not have time to save the world. Sure, he wasn’t going to turn his back if he came across a person in distress, but he certainly wouldn’t be picking any fights with supervillains. When Adam used his powers in public, he was wearing a generic sweatshirt with hood shadowing his face. Under absolutely no definition was he ever going to be a superhero.

But try telling that to Ronan Lynch.

Currently, Ronan was lying atop a workbench, lazily watching a wrench Adam had set spinning for him. This would keep him quiet for a few minutes, but never for long. Unfortunately, Ronan was incessantly disruptive and impossible to get rid of. Adam had seen him every night for two weeks now, and he was starting to seriously regret ever getting control of his powers. If only he’d never gotten comfortable with them, he wouldn’t have been casually using them in the auto repair shop while alone at night, and he would have had the risk-free option of calling the police when a certain bored stranger broke in.

But, Adam _had_ been using his powers, bringing his tools to his hands without even looking. Ronan still hadn’t told him how long he’d been watching before Adam had spotted him. Long enough, apparently.

It wasn’t like Ronan was blackmailing him or anything; he’d never threatened to reveal Adam’s secret. But Adam was quite aware that some people felt vindictive when you got them arrested.

Also, he had to admit that Ronan was starting to grow on him, even if he was bitterly jealous. Part of Ronan’s reassurances that he wouldn’t be spreading rumors about Adam’s powers was his admission that he, too, had powers. Nothing useful like Adam’s, he’d said – just the fact that he never needed to sleep. Adam, who was always tired and always had something else on his to-do list, was working hard on not resenting Ronan for spending his evenings breaking into auto shops out of sheer boredom. If Adam didn’t need sleep, he would be writing groundbreaking research papers and earning his degree in half the time and working enough hours to keep himself consistently more than one bout of car trouble away from disaster.

But the irony of the universe was that Adam Parrish needed sleep and Ronan Lynch did not have a power that he could “kick ass with.” So, Adam was left to be pestered by a man who wanted to live vicariously through _someone_ , and happened to have picked Adam as his best bet. And Ronan was left with a “best bet” who, in fact, was not having any of it.

“Parrish.” Ronan started to sit up and Adam had to quickly whisk the wrench away so that Ronan didn’t hit his head on it. He was grinning when Adam turned to glare at him.

“I wish you would stop doing that,” he muttered. “Eventually, I’m just going to let it hit you.”

Ronan was still grinning. “You know that you didn’t look first, right?” he said.

Adam narrowed his eyes; he should have known Ronan had been trying to prove that he didn’t need to look to move things. This was going to make the superhero speech just that much more unbearable. In a last-ditch attempt, he said, “You’re completely predictable. I didn’t need to look to know that you were going be stupid and almost give yourself a concussion. _Again_.”

Ronan scoffed. “Check your facts, Parrish. A concussion is harder to get than that.”

No, it wasn’t. Not by much, anyways. But Adam didn’t say that. Instead, he said, “Next time, I’ll let you test that theory out yourself.” He went back to the engine he was tuning up. He knew, of course, that Ronan wasn’t going to drop it.

Sure enough, Ronan came to stand just behind him. “How did you do it?” he murmured, and it was a totally unfair tactic to have his words dancing over Adam’s skin. “How’d you make it move without looking?”

Adam sighed and set down the tool in his hand. “Do you really want a whole science lesson on how my power works?” he asked. “Do _you_ know all the science of how your power works?”

Ronan did not look perturbed in the slightest. “No,” he said, “but I’m not you.”

Well, that was just unnecessary flattery. Adam crossed his arms. “It’s all the same thing,” he said. “Moving things and… all the other stuff. Electromagnetic waves. That’s my thing. Okay? I feel them – I can sense them a good way off. And I can… change them. I can make them do what I want them to.”

Ronan looked interested but confused. Adam found himself wondering if this was the same expression Ronan might have worn in a difficult lecture, and quickly shook it off.

“So,” Ronan pieced together, “you felt me moving, and you manipulated the electromagnetic waves around the wrench to move it away.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Adam agreed.

“And you can sense the waves for – how far?”

Adam shrugged. “Well, it’s not like I’ve gotten out a tape measure,” he retorted. Ronan turned his expression into a reminder that he could literally wait days for this answer. “I don’t know. A block or so.”

Ronan let out a breath. “How are you not –”

“Because I don’t want to, okay?” Adam snapped. He didn’t need to hear the rest of the question to know that Ronan was bringing up the superhero speech again.

Ronan scowled at him. “Well, fuck off, Parrish. It’s not like I was suggesting you help people or something. God forbid!”

Adam had to take several deep breaths to get his temper back in check. Even so, his voice came out flat and cold when he said, “I am not interested.”

Ronan sighed in frustration. “Why the hell not?” he demanded. “What’s so terrible about saving lives?”

“It’s not the saving lives I’m objecting to,” Adam argued. “You’re being an idealist! What about having to be on your guard all the fucking time because maybe your archnemesis is around the corner? What about the fact that you’re always expected to be available to save the day at a moment’s notice, and nobody cares if you have a shift at work or an exam?” His voice dropped. “What about when you do more harm than good?” He turned away. “It’s not all triumphs and parades.”

Ronan’s voice was hushed with awe. “Did you try it?”

“What?” Adam said. “No. Of course not.” He made a face. “For a couple months. In high school. It was – my parents found out.”

“Oh,” Ronan said, and he must have heard something in Adam’s voice that told him not to ask for details. Adam wasn’t sure whether that made him feel angry or just defeated.

“But this doesn’t have anything to do with my past,” Adam pushed on through the tight feeling in his chest. “It has to do with the pattern. Just look at all of the superheroes out there. Do you think Lynx gets to go out of town to visit friends? Do you think Alt Delete feels like a normal person when he goes to the grocery store? It’s not just one good deed, Ronan. It defines your entire life.”

It was silent in the shop for a long moment. Ronan appeared to be thinking very, very hard. Finally, he said, “I have one more question, and then I’ll never bring this up again.”

Adam, who was neither foolish nor gullible, sensed a trap. Still, begrudgingly, he said, “Go ahead.”

Ronan took a dramatic breath. “Is light one of your electromagnetic wave things?”

This was not the sort of question Adam had been expecting. He was mildly impressed, actually; this question was reasonable and smart. It was still clearly a trap, but Adam might not mind taking this bait quite so much.

“I don’t have much experience with it,” he admitted, “but yes.”

Ronan might as well have been glowing with anticipation. “And, if you worked on it, do you think you could make yourself invisible?”

Adam crossed his arms. “That’s another question, Ronan.”

Ronan waved this off. “It’s part B!” he argued.

And there was the trap. “Out of how many parts, Ronan?”

“Um. Probably three,” he replied.

Adam took a good, long moment to show Ronan that he didn’t appreciate this trickery. Then he said, “I think it’s possible.”

Ronan’s excitement increased by a few lumens. “So, Adam,” he said, “part C. Do you think if I’m the face of it, if all the blame falls on me in public eye – you would consider being a superhero?”

Adam was not foolish or gullible, and he realized that this idea did not entirely negate any of the concerns he’d brought up. He realized that Ronan had no defensive powers, and yet would be the focus of villains’ wrath.

But he also realized that Ronan really, really wanted this. Adam, for whatever consequences may come, didn’t have the heartlessness to turn him down.

“I’ll need time to practice the invisibility,” he warned. “It could be a while.”

Ronan nodded eagerly. “Yeah, absolutely. I’ll help. We can practice here!”

Adam sighed, almost regretting it already. “I think we should talk about this,” he said. “I do actually have to work, and – your phone.”

An instant after he’d said it, Ronan’s phone let out a shrill, ugly ring, prompting him to pull it from his pocket and examine the screen. Ronan grinned that smile of excitement. “You,” he said. “You are fucking something!”

He started for the back door of the shop, his phone still ringing in his hand. “You’d better get that,” Adam called, anxious on someone else’s behalf. “This time of night, it’s probably an emergency!”

Ronan waved with his cell phone hand. “See you tomorrow, Parrish!” He ducked out the back door, and Adam dropped his head onto the frame of the closest vehicle. What had he just gotten himself into?


End file.
